apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

yeah yeah, I know it's totally impractical and a bit of a death trap but oh how glamorous! Hot all the way.

Cool in theroy, but looks incredible dangerous.

I'm curious as to what kind of material or engineering could possibly make these stable and safe? I'm torn...part of me sees "hot", and part of me sees a series of diving boards.

I like the idea but not the execution. I saw this done in a magazine once and the execution was a lot better.

I already have enough trouble walking down regular stairs with no handrails so I would probably be stuck at the top for a long time.

It does look really interesting though.

scary and dangerous but hot.

guaranteed, no diving board action there--those look like 3/4" or 1" steel plates, no doubt welded back to steel structure inside that wall. i'll bet they're solid as a rock.

but the lack of a handrail does look pretty scary. and give it six weeks and you'll have one big continuous smudge up that white wall, where everybody's going to trail their hand up the wall as they go along, trying to feel safer.

What about doing a floating hand rail too? attached to the floor at the top and bottom of the staircase? Just one super long piece of bent metal perhaps?

cool looking, but i had to go with not... i would kill myself trying to use those!

YIKES!!!!

Rarely is a death trap so attractive.

Another site says "Treads are independently anchored to a side bearing wall, or to a stud-reinforced dry wall" and that floating stairs can be built to code - at the least that would mean adding a railing. I suspect your home insurance would not cover the costs of hospitalizations.

The architectural equivalent of spike heels.

NOT hot. Now, the floating staircase that is wider and has a functional handrail in "The Island"? Now that is hot. Although Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansen sitting on them probably helped too....

Sexy way to kill your guests and yourself.

Okay, so I wouldn't want to have to walk on those on a daily basis, but sooooo hot! Of course, once you're in a wheel chair and can't feel anything from your waist down, they might not be practical anymore.

Stitches on kids' foreheads! Stitches on kids' foreheads!

oh...but I did vote Hot.

Scary. I would be afraid of a step flying off the wall under someone's body weight.

suffer for fashion, i guess.

Hot, but a bit too dangerous.
I'd run steel aircraft cable from the floor up to the wall, following the same slope as the staircase, to act as a minimal handrail.

sniplet is right - there's going to be a gray streak from people needing the wall for comfort.

plus, *I* would walk into them - stitches on my forehead!

hot, nonetheless.

just.say.no

Why not just install a handrail along the wall?

simple.

would take the fear factor out of using these beautiful stairs.

I can't even manage stairs without a riser. It just freaks me out. Although I voted hot, I think I'd have an absolute panic attack no less than twice a day. And then I'd start sleeping on the couch.

I'm scared.

(But they are hot.)

I agree with peacelilly and theserovingeyes.

Hot! But I would be terrified to walk up them. Sooo... conceptually hot... realistically (for me) not...

Going up would be okay, but I'd need a fireman's pole to get back down.

Could care less for the stairs, but sure love that little workspace with the Hans Wegner chair.

Hot, Hot, Hot!

Has it not occurred to anybody that if you were to use them daily, you get over your fear pretty quickly? And one or two bumps on the forehead, and you would learn not to bump into them, no?

hot - but I too would be scared to use them. I am not sure I would get over it.

No danger of me using them once, let alone daily. I nearly tripped and fell going down an escalator today. If I can't manage standing still on a moving stair with two secure side panels, I sure as heck can't negotiate the Stairway in Space.

The point is not danger to myself, it's danger to a future houseguest who might stay over, get out of bed to get a drink of water, then oops...
Maiming or killing someone for aesthetic reasons is going way too far... unless the piece is *exceptionally* beautiful.

(lol kidding)

I saw something similar to this...in heavy glass block.
They look hot.
I NEED them.

re: "scary and dangerous but hot"

I think I dated him.

1,307 people died falling down the stairs in the United States in 2000.

http://danger.mongabay.com/injury_odds.htm

The stairs look beautiful but I'll be damned if I'm risking my life just to have a cool design element in my home. That's nuts.

they're attractive, but uhh..unless you're about 20 pounds, i have a feeling these would snap like an elderly woman's hip in a fall.

Looks like it goes up to a sleeping loft.

Very very cool. I'd do it. I expect it's probalby like working the balance beam or driving down the mountain at night. After a while you'd get used to it and be running up and down those stairs. I do that at home, running up and down carrying a laundry basket and not holding onto the handrails. I do admit it's reassuring knowing the handrail is there, but plenty of times I don't use it. Probably plenty safe.

If they were leading to nowhere, I would love them. But I do not like things that lead me to the light at the end of the tunnel...

A way to keep your dog out of your bedroom.

id probably have to go down those stairs sitting down

thank you all for your comments!
I love you!
If you feel like on Monday send you a comment because of this project is then easy to understand.

thank you!!

And I vote HOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
je,je,je.

I wear trifocals---I wouldn't last for two steps. I can barely manage stairs without risers. I guess in an emergency I could go up/down on my hands and knees :)

Just looking at this makes me feel uncomfortable and dizzy. I hate staircases with empty risers.

While I love the illusion of floating stairs, it looks like a broken neck waiting to happen. I feel dizzy just looking at it, and how would it ever work for kids or anyone over the age of fifty? A parachute is the perfect accessory item for these stairs.

Put some clear acrylic "fronts" on those so my foot can't go through the space (you know what I mean) and I'll go for them. Or make a whole staircase out of completely clear acrylic.

"looks" super-hot, but how are they mounted? i'm too scared. i voted not.

These would never pass US code, anyhow.

At least enclose the top "landing" with glass...

I just imagine coming home drunk and attempting to climb those. not.

You know, I really don't think these would really be too dangerous simply BECAUSE they look so dangerous. Let me explain:

It's like a traffic study that I read about- In a town there was one intersection which, on paper, looked like a death trap- many lanes of merging traffic, not very well-marked signals, lots of potential confusion and accident potential. But it was actually one of the roads with the LEAST reports of accidents, just because people perceived it to be dangerous so they took more caution.

So I think because the stairs will cause people to be more careful than they've ever been they are probably much safer than they would be stairs that people don't think twice about being reckless on.

abigailm wrote:
"scary and dangerous but hot."

If I could count the number of times I've heard that...

i can't imagine feeling relaxed enough to sleep in the loft after climbing those things....and then the thought of climbing back down the next morning....
**shudder**

That's not up to code...

I think they're stunning.

I would never, ever, ever have them in my house.

But they're still super hot.

The staircase in Tony Stark's home in "Iron Man" does this much better.

Are those real stairs? They look more like a "sculpture" or a piece of art than stairs per se. They look beautiful but they definitely aren't up to code.

Just FYI seeing all the comments about safety and such: Yes, this is totally unsafe. I realize it's probably in a private space, but in a public space, it definitely violates the ADA bigtime.

The ADA requires stairs to have a sturdy handrail on each side and prohibits open treads (imagine someone who's blind or doesn't move his/her legs so well sticking a toe into one of the spaces between the stairs -- ow). Public spaces are of course only required to be completely accessible if it's new construction, but all spaces are required to build/renovate in such a way that they go with the most accessible fixtures possible. It would be illegal to put these in an art gallery or office or anything (if intended to be functional stairs, and if there isn't also a normal staircase one could use instead), because there's clearly the space and the money for them to have chosen a normal staircase instead (which would be more accessible, even though not completely accessible like an elevator is).

Good God, you're all so uptight. Waaa waa waa, code, safety, blah blah. It's not your house, so lighten up.

ummm what if you are fat? I am fat and you couldnt pay me to walk up those stairs. Looks dangerous- but might be sheek for skinny people and people who have good balance. oh and people who never invite children over or grandmas-

Looks like the kind of stairway that my cat would love going up to her "heaven"...

I have a huge scar from falling UP the stairs so Im sure I would break my neck on these. While I dont use my handrail everytime I go up the stairs in my place now, having them there for those few times I have lost my footing has been a lifesaver. Literally.

An interesting look right up until you lose your balance and have no way to catch yourself. How in the world would you carry a basket of laundry up those stairs?

Hot!
SCARY, but hot.

SleepyDweller said - >

I've fallen up the stairs too! I was in 7th grade at the time, and it happened at school!

As for the stairs - Yeah they look cool, and I'm not afraid of heights. But I would be afraid of snapping them, even if they were completely secure.

How about hanging a framed print of Hitchcock's VERTIGO movie poster at the top? 8^)

I'd like to add a fire pole for descending.

Definitely not the kind of stairs I would go down to when I wake up in the morning. Hot but impractical.